I’d like to take exception to Plex’s website where in several discussions about using an antenna and tuner it refers to a digital antenna,
THERE IS NO SUCH THING! An antenna picks up radio waves of whatever kind, AM/FM/TV etc. and passes them to a piece of electronics. It is up to the electronics to decode it. Too many companies are telling customers they need a digital antenna for TV… NO. They need antenna that will cover the proper VHF/UHF bands for TV in their area.
Yep! This really grinds my gears as well. By definition an antenna is nothing more than a piece of wire. And given the broadcast frequency of OTA Television, I just have a bent out paper clip in my TV’s coax connection and it picks up all of my local stations just fine.
This might be mainly marketing driven. However in some markets, the frequencies have changed with the introduction of digital TV. And that can indeed require the user to switch to an antenna which is made for these frequencies.
Some active/powered antennas even contain filters, which can suppress or amplify certain frequency ranges. When these filters are tuned for the old analog broadcasting frequencies, you can have poor to no reception.
But even an unpowered antenna has only a certain frequency range where it is useful. (Particularly, directional antennas [like, e.g. a “Yagi”])
So, in this case the term “digital antenna” is a simplified term to state this technical fact.
As Plex is a Global business and supported globally, I don’t see an issue with Digital being mentioned. As this map below shows that most of the world are digital except for the US
Not to the “Money Miner Digital TV Antennae” Companies looking to sell their ‘New Miracle 150 Mile Antennae’ manufactured out of bent silverware to a people so gullible/misguided/brain-dead they’d elect Donald Trump as their president.
“Hi, I’m Cy Simms.
A Rich Educated Idiot in a $100 Suit is our #1 Customer.”
" Would you like a Digital Antenna with that Feed-Sack Suit?
Well, don’t worry - all our fine garments comes with one.
I guarantee it."
A little bit of an oversimplification here. While I didn’t have to upgrade my antenna, to eliminate the blockiness in my digital reception, I did have to upgrade the lead-in cable between the TV and antenna from the RG-59 to the RG-6 coax standard. RG-59 was okay for analog reception, but pretty much useless downunder for digital reception.
Because 59 loses more signal at higher frequencies over distance than 6 does.
In the simplest terms, a radio/TV signal is nothing more than light, the antenna is the device that can see the light and the cable carries the light to your eyeballs.
If there isn’t much light, your device needs to be larger so it can gather more of it.
If there is a lot of light - a coat hanger or a ‘Digital Antenna’ will be able to see it right through the walls. Like magic.
The best antenna designs have already been invented (50 years ago). Physics/The Laws of the Universe didn’t change with Digital TV and there ain’t no better mouse trap left to invent - unless catching customers, not signals, is the goal - and it is.
It does require some imagination, but an antenna is exactly like a telescope. If you want to see deeper into the void - you need a bigger one - and that is subject to diminishing returns, just like everything else.
True, but if you want to see a different type of light, you need a different type of telescope. The issue is not one of magnification, but of frequency. The older aerial infrastructure may not have been rated for the higher frequency demands of digital reception.
We’re not talking Visible VS Infrared. It went from VHF to UHF (for some folks) and UHF has been around for a LONG time. UHF is LOS while VHF did enjoy a bit of bendy-bouncy, but not much.
Digital is also different in that you either get it - or you don’t. You could watch a poor signal with analog, if you had to, with varying amounts of pain and suffering.
With analog you could spend a bunch of money on antennae and actually see some returns - to a point. You can get a decent UHF antenna for Digital - and if that fails you can give up. At least it’s over quick…lol
I’d tell 'em they can’t receive UHF signals with a VHF antenna (assuming DVB-T is UHF) - unless they can see the light blinking on the tower.
Over here in the land of Orange, everybody already had a VHF/UHF combo and if they didn’t they probably do now - if they need to see something on both bands.
UHF is the same in America as it is anywhere else on the planet. If you want to get some of it you need a UHF antenna - unless you can see the light blinking on the tower.
My horizons - and the real one that UHF signals can’t go beyond - are fine, thank you…
The name given to the aerial is the ONLY relevant bit.
You guys had no idea what band your analog TV was on - or at least some of you didn’t. When digital switched on those that did know what was happening got a different aerial because they knew the one they had wouldn’t work. The confused had to work on it for a while - and were probably not happy a service they’re paying for didn’t ‘just work’. <—and if you’re still paying, you might be right.
Over here when they made the ‘big switch’ if you didn’t have a digital TV already all you had to do was go down to ‘anywhere’, present your Government Coupon and get a ‘tuner’. I got 3. <----that was a LOT of money the Gubmint shelled out - or scammed somebody out of - probably us.
We all got the fair warning it was going to happen, it happened, and we survived.
